Automatic safety device and danger-zone signal.



C E. KINNARD.

AUTOMATIC SAFETY DEVICE AND DANGER ZONE S'IGNAL.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 4. I917.

PatGI ItGdNOV. 13, 1917;

. gate which is comparatively UNITED A S rATENT orraca.

' crmnnnsn. Kmnann. or COCI-IRAN MILLS, PENNSYLVANIA,

AUTOMATIC SAFETY DEVICE AND DANGER-ZONE SIGNAL;

Specification of Letters Patent. P t te 13, 1917,

Application filed August 4, 1917. Serial No. 184,374.

To all/whom it may concern:

Be it known that LCHARLns E. Kmnnnn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cochran Mills, in the coun'tyof Armstrong,

' State of Pennsylvania, have lnvented a new and useful Automatic Safety Dev ce and Danger-Zone Signal; and I do hereby ideclare the following, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which i it appertains to make anduse the same.

' Thepresent invention relates to an automatically operated railway gate, and has for its object to provide a device of this character which embodies novel features of construction whereby a set o'fgates, a danger zone signahor other safety device, can be positively and effectively operated by the to get out of repair, and which will open and close the gates V automatically at the proper intervals of time. t

With these and other objects'in view. the invention consists in certain novel combinations and arrangements of the parts as will more fully appear as the description proceeds, the novel features thereof being pointed out in the appended claims.

Fora full understanding of the invention, reference is to be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, in

which V Figure 1 is a top plan view of a railway crossing provided with an automaticallyoperated gate constructed in accordance. with the invention.

Fig. 2 1s a side elevation of the samel jj Fig. 3 is an enlarged side elevation ofone of the trip plate controlled gate operating devices Fig; 4: 1s a transversevertical sectional view on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3. V

Corresponding and like parts are referred to inthe following description and indi- ,cated in all the vlews ofthe' drawings by {the same reference characters. Referring tothe drawings, which illus- I, .t'rate one embodiment of theinvention, the

reference charactersA and B designate a pair of standard railroad tracks which are arranged side by side, the-trains moving from left to right traveling upon theftrack A, while the oppositely moving trains travel upon the track 13. A crossing is indicated at C, and a pair of gate standardsl is aruponthe upper ends of one pair of gate standards, while a cooperating set of gatese are pivotally mounted at 5 upon the'fupper ranged upon each side of the crossing, one 'set of gates 2 being pivotally mounted at- 3 ends of the other, pair of gate standards.

The respective gates are counter-weighed at 2 and 4& respectively so that they can be very easily swung about their pivotpoints into either an open or a closed posltlon.

Arranged under each ofthe gates is a gate operating lever 6 which is pivotally mounted at 7 upon, the standard 1, and extends inwardly toward thecrossing C; Aspring arm 14 is secured to the lowerside of each of the levers 6 and extends 'rearwardly beyond the' pivot point 7 thereof, said spring arms having the operating cables connected thereto and serving as shock absorbing means to avoid a jerky movement of the gates and enable them to be opened and closed with a smooth even movement. The

' swinging end of each of the levers 6 is connected by a diagonal link'S to the counter- Weighted end of the'respective gate, so that by swinging the levers the gates can be moved up and down. Owingt'o the fact that the links 8 are diagonally disposed and connected to the gates and levers on oppo- "site sides of the standards 1, it will be obvious that the respectivegates and levers will swing 1n opposite directions.

The gate standards 1 of each pair of gates are connected at the bases thereof by a pair of horizontally disposed transverse shafts Slaiid '10,,said shafts -extending under the tracks and being provided at the'ends' thereof, with the respective pulleys 11 and 12. The operating levers'fi "for the gate 2' have the ends thereof to which cables 18 secured to the diagonal links;8' are connected,f said' cables passingdown and around'the pulleys 12 of the shaft 10 on the'jcorres'pondin'g side of the road, across the road and around the pulleys 11 of, the shaft '9"o'n the opposite side of the road, and thence upwardly to the springs 14: of

the operating: levers 6 for the gates 4. The two 'setsof gates 2 ande are thus operatively connected with each other "so as to be raised and lowered in unison,

Trip controlled operating devices D and E are applied to the rails .of the respective tracks A and B on opposite sides of the crossing C. These trip controlled devices are substantially identical in construction, so that a description ofone will apply to both of them. Each of these devices includes a "ertically disposed elongated trip plate 15 which is arranged at the outsidecof one of the track rails, so as to be engaged by the wheel treads of the rolling stock, and is 'mounted to have both an up and down movement and a longitudinal sliding movement The upper edges of the trip plates are beveled toward opposite ends thereof, as indicated at 15, so that the wheel treads will have a gradual engagement therewith, and the ends of the trip plates have leaf springs 16 secured thereto, said springs projecting longitudinally in opposite directions and being offset downwardly so as to provide yieldable supports for the trip plates and normally hold them up in operative position, although the plates are adapted to be forced downwardly by the wheels of the rolling stock when a train travels alongthe track. The lower edge of each of the trip plates 15 isreceived within the vertical guide slots 1? of a series of'blocks 17 which are secured to the projecting ends of the track ties A. The inner faces of the guide blocks 17 are cut away and shaped to fit over the basal flanges and within the fishing space of the rail, as indicated at 17 ,'wl1ile the outer faces of the guide blocks are formed with flanges which extend over the projecting ends of the ties A and are spiked or other wise rigidly secured thereto, as indicated at 17. Each trip plate 15 is thus free to move up and down and also to slide longitudinally within the slotted portions 17 of the guide blocks 17, being normally held resiliently in a raised position by the springs 16, and being limited in its movements bypins 18 extending across the guide slots 17 of certain of the guide blocks, and received loosely within triangular openings 19 in the trip plate, said openings being sufficiently large to provide for the necessary movements of the trip plates, and the pointed lower ends of the openings'cooperating with the pins 18 and the springs 16 to "bring the trip plates back into correct operative position as soon asthey-are outof engagement with the wheels of the rolling stock,

The lower edge of the trip plate 15 is,

shown as cut away or notched at 20 for engagement with the end21 of a crank member 22 which project-s from one end of a rock shaft 23 arranged at one side of the track and extending transversely with respect thereto. One end of the notch 20 is deeper than the other end, and when a train is mov ing upon the track in a direction toward the crossing C the longitudinal movement of the trip plate 15, which will be in the same direction as that in which the train is moving, will 'causethe'crank arm 21 to be engaged by the shallow end of the notch 20, with the result that the transverse shaft 23 will be rotated. However, should a train be moving in the opposite direction, the longitudinal movement of the trip plate will bring the deep end of the notch 20 over, the crank member 22, with the result that the movements of the trip plate will not swing the crank member and rotate the rock shaft 23. 'The' construction is thus such that a train moving upon the track toward the crossing C will actuate the trip plate 15 in such a manner as to bring about a rotation of the rock shaft 23, although a train moving in the opposite direction will not cause a rockin movement of the said shaft. This rock shaft 23 is connected by the gearing 24 to a countershaft 25 'whichis provided with a drum 26, the two'transverse shafts 23 and 25 being journaled upon bars 28 which extendlongitudinally of the track and are secured to the ends ofthe ties A at one side of the track rails. v

"A train approaching the crossing C on the trackA will operate the trip controlled device D and produce a pull upon a gate closing cable 27 which is connected to the drum 26 of the operating device D. This cable 27 extends along the sides of the track A to the obvious that when the device D is actuated by the passage of a train overthe same, the gate closing cable 27 will be wound upon the drum 26, and a pull thereby produced upon the spring arms 14 of the levers 6 for the gates 2, with the result that the gates 2 will be lowered into a closed position. As,

has been previously described, the gates 2 are operatively connected to the gates 4:, in such a manner that both sets of the gates will swingdownwardly into a closed position at the same time. After the train has passed over the trip controlled device D, the counter-weights upon the gates will cause them toswing slowly into an open position, although in the meantime the train a will have completely passed over the cross:

in a I a Tl, train moving in the opposite direction upon the other track B will actuate the trip controlled device C, the pulley 26 of which is connected by a cable-3O which extends longitudinallyof the track, around the pulley 10 of the corresponding gate 4-, and upwardly to the spring arm 14 of the lever 6 for the said gate 4. The gates 2 and 4 will thus be closed by the actuation of the device C, and after the train has passed over this device C the counter-weights upon the gates will cause them to swing slowly into an open position, although the train will have passed beyond the crossing before the gates reach an upright position.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. An automatic railway gate including a vertically disposed trip plate arranged at the outside of one of the track rails and mounted to have both an up and down and a longitudinal sliding movement when engaged by the wheel treads of the rolling stock, slotted guide blocks receiving the trip plate to direct it in its movements, a rock shaft extending transversely of the track and provided with a crank portion which is operatively connected to the trip plate, a counter-shaft geared to the rock shaft, a drum upon the countershaft, a gate, and a cable operatively connecting the gate and the drum.

2. An automatic railway gate including a vertically disposed trip plate arranged at the outside of one of the track rails and mounted to have both an up and down and a longitudinal sliding movement when engaged by the wheel treads of the rolling stock, slotted guide blocks receiving the lower edge of the trip plate to direct it in its movements, springs normally moving the trip plate upwardly into operative position, stop means limiting the upward movement of the trip plate, a rock shaft extending transversely of the track and provided with a crank portion which is operatively connected to a trip plate, a countershaft geared to the crank shaft, a drum upon the counter- Oopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the shaft, a gate, and a cable operatively connecting the drum and the gate.

3. A railway gate including a gate standard, a guide pulley at the base thereof, a counter-weighted gate pivotally mounted upon the upper end thereof, an operating lever arranged under the gate and pivoted upon the standard, a link member between the swinging end of the operating lever and the gate, a spring arm secured to the operating lever and extending rearwardly beyond the pivot thereof, and a cable connected to the spring arm and passing around the pulley at the base of the standard for operating the gate.

4. A railway gate including standards arranged upon opposite sides of the crossing, a pair of guide pulleys at the base of each of the standards, counter-weighted gates pivotally mounted upon the upper ends of the standards, operating levers arranged under the respective gates and pivoted upon the standards, links connecting the operating levers to the respective gates, a cable passing around one set of pulleys at the bases of the standards and having the extremities thereof operatively connected to the corresponding operating gates to move in unison, gate closing cables passing around one of the other pulleys of each set of the gates and operatively, con nected to the corresponding lever for closing the gates, cables connecting the remaining pulleys to the operating levers of the corresponding gates, and means for pulling upon the gate closing cables.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES E. KINNARD.

Witnesses:

SAMUEL B. Mm'rnnn, JAooB A. MYERS.

Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

levers for causing the two sets of i 

